COTFS - Scion

So, with some time to spare before guarding Guan Yu’s box, our heroes decided they’d try to find the three pieces of Susano-o’s sword at Amaterasu’s behest. And so, our heroes milled some ideas about their heads for finding three Japanese women who happened to be descendants of the women who once combined into a sword long ago, but came up with nothing substantial, since it’d be like finding a straw of hay in a haystack. Then, Guo Yu suggested to Ami that she ask for an item similar to Baron Samedi’s cigarettes or rum so they’d have a method of at least identifying the pieces of the sword. As quick as he could, Ami’s white wolf Hiro covertly made his way back to Amaterasu’s room with a message bearing such a request, and soon the pup returned with a green sash. It was no ordinary sash, for it used to hold the sword formed from the pieces they were looking for. Furthermore, when worn, the wearer can spot the pieces among the crowds, as they’d glow a jade green color. Alex suggested they first scope out the lobby of the Imperial Palace’s hotel lobby - and, true to his hunches, they found the first, a young woman roughly 20 to 30 years in age. Sasaki Ami approached her claiming she had something on her shoulders, and feinted brushing it off - she was in fact pulling a hair out instead. Upon brushing against Ami’s skin, hair began to glow green, and she stashed it away. Conveniently, the next female was also in the very same lobby, this time a girl of the early teenage years. Ami once again talked her way to her prize, asking the girl to show her directions to some random restaurant on a map. With map in hand, the girl kindly obliged when Ami yanked it from her hands, “accidentally” giving her a paper cut. Apologizing profusely, Ami gave her a band-aid and turned, satisfied, eyes half glancing at the congealed, glowing green blood on the edge of her map. That too, she stashed away into her bag. Not lucky enough to find the third in the hotel lobby, the group exited the hotel and made their way to a local Japanese food market, where upon passing between the sliding doors, Ami spied another green glow in the near distance. This time, it was a diminutive elderly woman, hairs white as snow. Ami whispered her plan to Yu, who with a certain degree of hesitation, walked on over and “accidentally” stepped on the woman’s foot, which happened to be wearing extremely vulnerable sandals. Apologizing and paying for a random cup of ramen he hastily pulled from the shelf, Yu turned around with ears burning. The woman’s eyes shed a single tear from the sharp pain, which Ami managed to retrieve as she consoled her. With all pieces in her possession, Ami and her Scion compatriots made their way back to the Imperial Palace. Amaterasu took the pieces, which now more resembled sword fragments, and withdrew them into her sleeves to re-forge later. In return, she gave Ami a relic tsuba(handguard) that displayed ornate engravings of the sun, explaining that it would confer upon her greater efficiency when channeling the power of the sun, and that whichever sword she attached the relic to would be able to cast a supernatural glow, as long as she willed it hard enough.

Finally, it was time to complete Guan Yu’s favor, as night was coming fast. The Scions - and Tucker, under Yu’s command - met in Guan Yu’s luxury suite, where the god showed them their rectangular ward - a box with gold trimmings and handles made of jade - and explained that they were under no circumstances to open the box and by extension, look inside the box. When he left, the Scions quickly got down to business. Guo Yu laid a ward on the room’s main door, erecting a protective barrier 2000 square feet in circumference against specifically those who sought to steal the box. Ami also quietly conversed with the door, asking for its aid in alerting her of any troubles that may come, leaving Hiro sitting aside to wag his tail. Alex sat down, meditating on a Mountain Dew caffeine high, while his owl Archimedes sat on the balcony outside, keeping a lookout for would-be infiltrators aiming to come through the balcony doors. Hakon sat against the wall and fell asleep, having not done so for days, while his Crow perched close-by, ever on guard for his master. Tucker, not quite taking the job too seriously at the moment, sat down on a recliner and watched TV. A few moved furniture for barricades later, and their defenses were ready. Guo Yu called up room service, taking advantage of the room’s complimentary amenities, and ordered some dinner for his band.

As the hour dragged on, and as Yu wondered where the hell his food was, he heard a faint sound of metal on metal. Quickly, he roused up the band and alerted them to his suspicions; Ami sent out her wolf to investigate, and a few minutes later, it came back eagerly with news of a pair of men dressed in bus-boy uniforms wielding a pair of daos were smashing on Yu’s ward. Alex stepped out of the room, bow in hand, and let loose an arrow into one of the two’s chest, killing him instantly. As the other one fled, Yu reassessed the situation and decided that two people should be stationed at both ends of the hallway at the perimeter of the now weakened ward bubble - he volunteered himself, and Hakon joined in. As another two hours passed, a group of six robe-wearing belligerents turned the corner and into Guo Yu’s end, brandishing guan daos and jians. Immediately, Yu sprang into action, leaping into action outside of the ward’s border while calling out Hakon’s name. The kami of the door saw what was happening and relayed the situation to Ami, who stepped out with both katanas unsheathed, ready to lend a hand. Hakon sent his raven flying over while shouldering his Winchester, peering down the scope and trying to get a head between his crosshairs. Through a combined assault of .223 rounds, sword blades, and raven talons, the group of what Yu gathered to be cultists - he had finished a case regarding a cult not too long ago, and was kind of familiar with cultist behavior - fell in battle. When the authorities came, Yu attempted to defuse the situation by claiming that he did in fact hear loud noises and saw two gangs of white robed and black robed men fighting each other to the death. Of course, the detective thought he was mistaken, but was convinced that Yu, if not accurate in testimony, was at least not lying. However, Hakon came up later to reinforce his comrade’s claims, finally satisfying the detective.

A couple hours later, and a yell from Hakon alerted Gene to something on the ceiling. A man, dressed in black, landed on the carpet and brandished a staff, which extended from both ends, one went into Alex’s back - trapping him against the balcony - and the other slid under the table as this curious specimen of dexterity attempted to use his staff as a lever to bring the table closer to him. Hakon quickly snatched the box from top of the table while Yu issued a challenge to the man, yelling “he’s mine!” At this point, all Scions were noticing that this intruder was also in fact, a Scion, judging by the now stronger scent of ink and parchment permeating the air. The man tore off his mask, revealing himself to be of Asian descent - he accepted Yu’s request and held his hand out, beckoning to him. Yu shouted to the others “block off all the entrances” as he stepped forward, twirling his jian between his fingers. The man grinned, sheathed his staff, and brought out his own sword. For the first couple maneuvers, Yu seemed to have the upper hand, before they found themselves pushing on each other, swords locked. Believing the fight was taking too long, and he did have a job to do after all, the intruding Scion jumped back and took out his staff again, this time making a large sweep around the room to knock people off their feet. Soon, everyone was tumbling to the floor, except for Sasaki Ami, who managed to stay as spry as a cat. As the mystery Scion approached Hakon to seize the box for himself, Yu tackled him into a rear naked choke, calling on the power of the gods to obliterate the man’s very soul - Yu, having been flustered from what he deemed to be a dishonorable maneuver a second ago, was very, very angry and disgusted at the man’s lack of respect for the sanctity of one-on-one duels. Unfortunately, he managed to finally escape Yu’s essence-rending grip, and escaped out the balcony, coughing blood, promising that they’d see each other again. Yu dashed after him with gun drawn, aiming to finish him off - he was after all, quite genre savvy - while yelling at his companions to pursue or attack the fleeing Scion.

His roars fell on deaf ears. All he could do was shout “FUCK.”

Eventually, though, he was starting to calm down when loud booming footsteps came from outside the door, ending with a loud clanging, as if metal was meeting wood. Suddenly, a ten foot tall Hong Guei crashed through the door, weapons drawn, and body armor of ichor forming around his torso. Yu’s ichor manifested as armor in return, though before anyone could react, the double katanas of the demigod Sasaki Ami decapitated the demon in a single blow.

“Well, that was anti-climactic,” quipped Alex. Again, authorities came over to inquire about the new, splintered door - Yu stuck to his previous fabrication, this time claiming a gang of the black robed men kicked down their door mistakenly, seeking revenge for their defeat earlier.

It went over reasonably well.

The rest of the night went smoothly for the enemies of our heroes’ sake, and eventually the dawn sun peaked over the horizon. Guan Yu marched in rubbing his temples, this time with a pretty hefty celestial headache. He asked whether Guo Yu and his companions met any trouble, but his son was stumbling over his explanations quite a bit - talking to his father still wasn’t easy - but eventually let him know that there was several complications. Guan Yu stepped over to inspect the contents of the box, quickly shut the lid as had opened it, and stuck it somewhere else. Yu couldn’t fathom a guess what was inside or where his old man stashed the thing.

“Well done son, I suppose a reward is in order. So, about that Stone Lion you wanted…”

The duo of Alexander and Hakon had entered into the warehouse where the cosmetics were being held. Hakon and Alexander took their time discussing the plan. Hakon agreed to the plan that Alexander had come up with. The first step was to get everyone out of the warehouse. While Hakon was standing there in the warehouse, Alexander pulled the fire alarm. They heard rushing feet and so they had to hide quickly. Unfortunately, Alexander still had his spear with him. He was spotted by some of the security that this place had. Hakon was successful in hiding. He heard the sounds of a fight starting. Alexander had a grenade thrown at him, the grenade missed, and he returned fire with an arrow. It was after one or two more actions of this that Hakon decided to act and hit one target at the same time as Alexander did so. The rest of the fight was pretty much cut and dry after that. They finish up and started on their way to destroy the security footage. They were interrupted in their actions when three women appeared. They focused all their attention on Alexander.

Hakon didn’t look as he heard the three talking and well he had enough of their silly voices. He whips out his gun, points backwards, and fires. He kills one of them. The other two turned into Medusae. Hakon tells them to stop talking and called them ugly. He was going to be attacked but it was not to be. Yu, the kicking detective, crashes through the window with Ami over his shoulder. Yu kicks the Medusae down and slides past them. They try to hit him with their power but he ignores it. The party quickly defeats the medusae after that and the security footage was destroyed by Alexander. They got gas poured all over the place and Alexander asked for Yu’s lighter. Yu hands it over to Alexander. Alexander throws the lighter into the gasoline covered place and the fire started up or well more fires started popping up as there was a tiny amount of fire caused by the two grenades thrown. Hakon and the others walk out of the building calmly as it explodes behind them. It was with this that they headed out to their separate vehicles (or well three went to an SUV while Hakon went to his motorcycle). Hakon drives off on his motorcycle and is pursued by a police car.

The rest of the party had their own problems to deal with. Two mercenaries had waited inside of Yu’s vehicle. One of them puts a knife at Ami’s throat while the other one pointed a gun at one of the others. Yu decides to take drastic actions. He crashes the car in a fashion that caused the mercs to spill over forward. This caused the one holding the knife to flip over. They were both now in awkward positions. The party of three took care of them and then left after taking the bumper. Hakon, while all of this was happening, was running from the police and was heaving a very good time of it. He saw his chance to escape with a truck just up ahead. He got ready as he got closer. It was when he was upon it that he leaned his motorcycle to the side and hanged himself low to skid under the truck. It was in the middle of this that he shot one of the police’s tires out. He succeeded in getting away while the police car crashed into the truck. Hakon was lucky that the police didn’t record down his license plate number.

The heroes went on their way and met back up at the Wynn. Everyone decided on completing Hakon’s quest next. Hakon handed some money to the others for their cab fare. He went on his motorcycle as always arriving ten seconds sooner than they did. He asked why they took so long but is told that they arrived ten seconds after he did. All of them head into the Mirage and Hakon asks if there’s a Bob Bobberston in the hotel. The front desk person says that there was a person in room 501 here at the Mirage that matched that name. Hakon thanks the front desk person. He and his associates go into the elevator. Yu hums with the elevator music. The elevator dinged and they walked out onto the 5th floor.

Hakon takes it in stride and knocks on the door in question. A man opened the door and asks them what they want. Hakon asks if he has a package there for him but the man is hesitant. It was when Hakon asks about a briefcase that the guy starts acting funny. Hakon wanted to do this civilly but it all turned down hill as the other party members decided to be violent. Hakon had no choice but to hit the guy with the non-pointy part of his blade. He wanted to have the guy knocked out. Guo, being the murdering detective that he is, messes that plan up by killing the guy in style. The Scions find the receipt but know that there was a gun shot. Yu, during his attack, had brains and blood on his arm. Alexander had been shot. They decided to quickly leave and head to the stairwell. They descended down to the bottom floor and Ami helps to patch Alexander up. Hakon breaks the lock to the door down there and everyone heads down to the laundry room. Two of the heroes throw their stuff into the washer while they decided what they wanted to do. It was first thought that they should steal some of the hotel security guy’s cards to use to get the suitcase. They would have picked Hakon for this job but he was a little reluctant at doing so. He was an assassin and not some petty thief. They come up with something else. Alexander decides to white out the name of the person on the slip and write his own name in. He did it flawlessly. They came back up top-side after their clothes were washed and Alex handed over the receipt. The vault was opened and the briefcase (suitcase) was retrieved. They all headed out to the parking and Alexander handed the item in question to Hakon. They were about to leave when six of Loki’s wolf-warriors stopped them. Hakon being up front was nervous when they had announced about being under the command of Loki to get the briefcase. Yu tries to get the wolf-men to back-down by saying that Hakon was the son of Loki but that didn’t work. Hakon didn’t have any identification on him to say otherwise. The wolf-men attacked and Hakon ran with the first chance that he got. He was going against his principles but it was better than killing one of these guys and maybe being accused of going against his divine parent. He didn’t really care about the others and so went off. It was with this that he was calling a cab while he was running. He stopped out at the front of the building and waited. The cab came eventually and Hakon was off. Two of the wolf-men had followed Hakon but couldn’t find him and so were on the ground floor of the building. Alexander and the others quickly dealt with the wolf-men quickly.

Hakon calls them and finds out what happens. He wasn’t going to reveal anything of what just transpired to Loki. They wanted to know what he was doing and he told them plainly that he was in the cab. Hakon arrives at the Wynn and meets outside of the meeting room with Loki. He hands the briefcase over to Loki who takes it. Loki asks about if the briefcase was opened by him but Hakon truthfully said that he didn’t. Loki shows what was in the briefcase as he thought that Hakon wouldn’t know what was in there. It was the opposite as Hakon knew what he was looking at. He wouldn’t forget what he had just seen. It was after this that Hakon asked for a signet ring. Loki asks why that he wanted something that would affiliate him (Hakon) with the god. Hakon answers basically that he was a lone-wolf and that he had no real friends anyway. Loki heads back into the conference room while Hakon pockets the ring. Hakon, the loyal-only-to-himself guy, thought about what transpired and he decided that he wouldn’t talk about what he saw in the briefcase. It was too soon anyway to talk about it. He had to think about his choices.

So half our heroes, namely Alexander Cross and Hakon Erickson, managed to sneak into the cosmetics warehouse while Guo Yu and Sasaki Ami were occupied with the guards outside. The plan was to burn down the warehouse, and so they decided the best way to go about it was to pull a fire alarm; the mortal warehouse workers would be able to flee, and they’d be left to set fire to the entire complex. To complicate things further, they would probably have to deal with the inevitable mercenaries stationed in the building, and they definitely needed to take care of the Medusae. One pull later, the alarms went off, and out came most everyone, with two Scions trying to push their way inside without being seen. Of course, as fate would have it, Alex was spotted by a few guards ushering some of the work. Obviously not willing to extend the possibility of surrender, one of the mercenaries lobbed a grenade in Alex’s direction, which not only missed and clattered behind some shelves, but earned him an arrow to the face: as the explosive detonated behind the Scion, the arrow skewered his skull and messily tore his head from his neck. Then, the next two guards attacked in tandem, with one, not learning from his deceased co-worker, tossing another grenade and the other opening fire with his AK-47. The grenade overshot Alex and clattered near Hakon, still hidden, who dove behind another crate as another explosion displaced some hundreds of cosmetic products; the bullets were right on target, but merely bounced off Alex’s lamellar armor. Finally getting in on the action, Hakon stealthily tossed a dart into one of armed men’s neck, severely wounding him with the dart alone -- the poison killed him a second later, as the unfortunate soul fell to the floor twitching. The last guard and Alex traded fire, though the former was less successful in penetrating armor, even with a 1911. Withdrawing his bow, Alex charged in with his spear as Hakon tossed another dart. After wiping the tip of his weapon, Alex motioned for Hakon and the two went up a flight of catwalk stairs towards the offices: some video evidence had to be destroyed before they got the hell out of there. Then came the hiss hiss hiss, the laughter of malevolent reptilians, as three Medusae stepped into view, blocking the way back down. Savvy to his situation, Alex turned, shield obstructing his view, and attempted to protest their desire to devour his eyes. Hakon, feeling a bit daring today, surreptitiously drew his Glock and fired backwards without turning; by some divine miracle, the bullets managed to hit, killing one of the Medusae outright - fortunately, they hadn’t yet transformed into their more hardy, obviously-not-human forms. After the commotion outside had subsided, Yu and Ami, who were making their way towards the cosmetics warehouse to check on their companions, heard a very unsettling hiss. Acting quickly, the Scion of Guan Yu tossed Ami on his back, took a running start, and leaped through the windows of the warehouse, crashing through in a shower of broken glass. Yu did not land on solid ground but rather, he landed on one of the Medusae, grinding her face into the cement as he surfed across the warehouse floor on her body, gruesomely killing the monster. Yu turned around, glanced at the blood trail the body left on the floor, and then at the remaining Medusae. Through sheer willpower, he stared the creature down, resisting its paralyzing gaze, and stood steadfastly, resisting the urge to run away due to some supernatural fear. Ami, face buried in Yu’s back prior, leaped off his back and landed behind the Medusae as the spawn of Medusa blood’s attempt at eye-gouging Yu was slapped away. Before the monster could turn around and react, Ami drew her katana and attacked, slicing the Medusae in half from waist to shoulder. Someone had the bright idea to harvest their blood. Having ascertained that the possible threats in the warehouse have now either fled or died, the group of Scions quickly went to work, with Alex destroying any evidence of their presence recorded on cameras and then coming back down to aid Yu in liberating some gas tanks from the forklifts scattered around the warehouse. Having sufficiently doused the place in gasoline, Alex tossed Guo Yu’s lit lighter into the mess - Yu topped off the pyromaniacal sundae with a gas tank he had torn from the wrecked car outside, where the unconscious guard still laid. Fire, fire everywhere, and the Scions quickly made their escape.

As Hakon rode off on his motorcycle, a police car that had come to check out the burning warehouse began to pursue him, thinking they were on the tail of a possible arsonist. Luckily, the Scion managed to lose his pursuers as he slid his motorcycle under a passing semi and shot out the front tire of the pursuit vehicle; in the end, they never got Hakon’s license number. Now, as fortunate as Hakon was, the other three Scions weren’t so lucky: as Guo Yu drove off, the two mercenaries Ami misdirected earlier popped up from the rear of the Hummer, holding Alex and Ami at both gun and knife-point. Demanding that Yu pull over, in his haste, the Scion responded by crashing into a fire hydrant, sending the mercs flying forward. Quickly, Yu snapped his seat back as hard as he could, smashing the mercenary’s face into the floor, then rolled backwards into where one of the assailants had been sitting earlier. Reflexively, Ami stomped on the other mercenary, breaking his nose, while Alex grabbed the man’s legs – which had been sticking up in the air – yelling for Ami’s help. In the end, they succeeded, managing to see-saw the merc’s cranium into the sunroof, cracking the glass. Wildly, the hired muscle swung his knife in Ami’s direction, missing only barely. Yu attempts to shoot the mercenary under the back of his seat through the cushion, but the hammer of his revolver clicked against an empty cylinder - fucking fate. Seizing this opening, the merc attempted to escape his ordeal, failed to do so, and passed out from exertion. Alex and Ami took turns stabbing their attacker, before Yu turned around and finished him off with a fist - a fist that was, in fact, enhanced with a lit cigarette he happened to have in his mouth. Needless to say, the man died from cigarette burns through the eyeball and to the brain. As sirens came closer, the gang piled out before the cops could possibly catch them in the act, but not before Yu tore off the SUV’s bumper, then license plate, and crumpled one of the cop’s most vital connection to them between his hands, before sticking the evidence under his coat. Eventually, the Scions regroup at the Wynn, where on a TV they realized their situation: blood samples and fingerprints were probably taken record of by authorities. Fortunately, the one witness testimony of Yu, from the rent-a-cop he had intimidated into fleeing earlier, wasn’t taken too seriously, as it was basically “giant ten foot Chinese man with lightning comin’ out of his eyes roared like a lion at me.”

The Scions began their next quest posthaste, which meant retrieving a briefcase of Loki’s. Out of a car now, Yu, Ami and Alex rode in a cab, courtesy of Hakon. At the Mirage’s reception desk, they managed to acquire Bob Boberston’s - the current holder of the briefcase - room number, and made their way to the elevator. As they ascended, they discussed possibly more subtle approaches this time, which each Scion agreed would be a nice change of pace. Unexpectedly, Bob opened the door when Hakon asked to see him; he would attempt to shut the door as quickly when Hakon revealed they were after the suitcase, until Yu stepped in to use his foot as a doorstop. As a group, they shoved their way into the room, closing the door behind them. Mr. Boberston noted that he had been paid quite a lot of money to return it, which Hakon responded to with an offer of his own. Unfortunately, the amount asked was much too high, but Yu managed to detect that Bob had already been paid, and was seeking to extort extra cash from his client. Satisfied now that Bob wasn’t quite that kosher of a fellow, Yu attempted to clothesline him. He missed, and Bob drew a pistol his hands had been laying upon the entire time from within his blazer. As he too missed during his offensive, Alex got involved and attempted to knock the man out with the blunt end of his spear; Hakon attempted to help the proceedings along by clubbing the man with the handle of his stiletto. Bob, in desperation, fired into the group hoping to hit someone, and shot Alex in the chest, who hadn’t had time to put on his armor again. Reeling from the pain of his first bullet wounds, he tossed his spear, this time aiming to kill. Unfortunately, it didn’t have much of an effect on Boberston, as Alex was understandably affected by the gaping wounds in his chest. Alarmed at seeing his fellow Scion getting shot, Yu let a fist sail into Bob’s face and to his horror, his fist came out the rear end of Bob’s skull. Hastily, Hakon searched the deceased for some lead to the suitcase, and procured a receipt made to Boberston’s name, before the Scions moved into the maintenance stairwell with Yu hiding his bloodied sleeve beneath his duster and the sound of hotel security’s footsteps pattering around the corner behind them. Down in the laundry room, Ami channeled the healing powers of her matron goddess and brought Alex back to a state of healthiness while Yu ran their bloodied clothing through a wash. Finally, with some downtime, the Scions discussed what plan of action they should take in order to retrieve the case from the hotel vault. It was suggested that Hakon go back upstairs to pickpocket a couple of security badges so two of them could pass into the vault disguised as security, until Yu proposed a less convoluted method: have Alex tamper with the receipt a bit, and replace Bob Boberston’s name with his own. And so, minutes later, they exited into the parking lot with briefcase in hand. Of course, things in this line of work are never easy, and they were soon confronted by a group of six Ulfhednars in Loki’s service, who weren’t going to budge through diplomacy despite Hakon’s claim that he was Loki’s son. Yu attempted to intimidate them into leaving, but the leader of the pack growled right on back. Soon, another fight broke out and in the midst of all this Chaos, Hakon ran off with the briefcase in possession. After the three Scions left behind thinned the Ulfhednar numbers a bit, two decided to pursue Hakon, sniffing for his trail like canidae. Alex left the last two hairy brutes in Yu and Ami’s hands, who made quick work of them soon after, and confronted the chasing Ulfhednars himself. Yu, ichor pooling to the soles of his feet, sprinted to Alex to provide some assistance, leaped through the air, and bicycle kicked one of the two aggressor’s in the head, causing it to snap and rotate an unnatural and fatal three-hundred-and-sixty degrees. Alex took another blow to the chest, now bleeding from an axe wound; Yu took his jian between his two hands and jammed the blade into the Ulfhednar’s chest. Pressurized blood-spray from the heart covered his clothing, yet again. Alex, who was this time nearing unconsciousness from both blunt trauma and blood loss, was soon tended to by a half-healing half-scolding Ami. Hakon, meanwhile, had managed to return to the Mirage on a cab, and quickly turned over the briefcase lest something else came about to throw another wrench in the works. Loki thanked him, grateful to hold in his hands his possessions again, and gave his son a peek inside. Due to the complications earlier with identifying himself as Loki’s son to the Ulfhednars, Hakon asked for a ring with Loki’s sigil, in case he should have to deal with any of Loki’s more aggressive henchmen in the future.

Four Scions. Four gods. Four quests. Our heroes huddled together, having been talking one-on-one with their respective gods a second ago. They agreed to band together to tackle each god-given task as a group, so the question was “which one do we do first?” Guo Yu, having taken note of Alex’s tabletop gaming vice some time ago, asked if he had a four-sided die. Indeed he did, and so Yu next assigned a number to each quest. One for retrieving Loki’s briefcase, two for retrieving several pieces of Susano-o’s sword disguised as women(what the fuck, I know right? I’m a narrator, so I’ve seen some wonky shit in my time, but god damn) for Amaterasu, three for defending Guan Yu’s… box at night, and four for investigating a cosmetics warehouse for Medusae in the name of Athena. Number three came up, but the Scions decided it was best to put off that task for last, and get the ones they can finish during the day first. The next roll gave a four, and so the Scions set off, three in the SUV and Hakon on his motorcycle.

Each vehicle was parked a block away, as per Yu’s instructions, at which point our heroes proceeded towards their destination on foot. From another nearby warehouse, the team scoped out the complex, noting its network of security cameras and the two guards on duty. The walls were pretty high, and difficult to scale both due to their height and the numerous metal points lining the top. From what he can tell, Hakon couldn’t find a blind spot outside of a tiny opening between two camera’s field of vision. Alex acknowledged this little bit of good news and sneaked on over - this however, he failed at doing. Luckily, though he alerted the guards of his presence, his attempt at looping the camera’s footage was a thumbs-up piece of work - nevertheless, a team of four mercenaries decked out in bulletproof vests and AK-47s filed out of the warehouse, aiming to converge on Alex’s position. Fortunately, the two made it over in time, conveniently saved from their troubles by Ami’s and Yu’s shenanigans at the front entrance of the compound - these two were providing distraction.

Ami had ran to the guard tower “seeking aid,” with Yu following several yards behind her. Cue the tried and true method of crying sex offender, and one of the two security personnel trudged out to meet Yu. Upon being asked to please stop loitering, Yu mustered the best angry movie quotes culled from years of watching American cinema and let loose, scaring the poor bastard with generic action movie gems such as “You wanna fucking go!?” and “Let’s throw down, you little shit!” - he then opened his duster, revealing a bulletproof vest and an extremely obvious holstered revolver. Boxers in need of washing, security, admirably not paralyzed by fear, quickly drew his pistol and pulled the trigger twice, shooting Guo Yu in the chest. Just as the second bullet struck, ichor welling up, Yu planted his foot square into the guard’s chest, sending him flying ten feet back through a car’s passenger window, where the guy laid crumpled in the driver’s seat. Thankfully, Yu wasn’t one to kill anyone unless they were despicable to a degree, and because of this, he made an effort to hold back his usually-lethal unarmed strikes in order to merely knock the rent-a-cop out cold. The other guard, still at his post, dropped Ami(who had faked fainting when the first guard shot Yu) and pulled out his gun. Yu pounded his chest at the man, letting out a guttural roar and threatening him, “if you don’t leave now, you’re going to die.” The guard turned to look at his thoroughly incapacitated partner, back at Yu, and then deserted his $7.50-an-hour position, dropping his gun on Ami’s face. Guo Yu took this brief, well earned period of respite in order to check his phone, which had vibrated twice during the altercation. Both were from Alex; one read “wtf!?,” which Yu assumed was referring to the gunshots, and the other read “4 hevy armed guards comng ur way.” Evidently, the gunshots alarmed the mercenaries that were going to check out where Alex and Hakon had climbed over the wall. Guo Yu, thinking that he might as well go all the way, pulled out his revolver and fired into the air so the guards could better locate him - this way, the guards would be pulled farther away from the two Scions sneaking into the cosmetics warehouse.

Acting as quick as he can before he was set upon by a bunch of automatics-wielding men, Guo Yu sprinted like lightning across the street into a warehouse full of antique Chinese furniture. As the guards came in twos, Ami got up and upon being questioned, redirected a pair of the mercenaries down the street away from Yu. The other two guards, however, had spied Guo Yu rushing into the warehouse and pursued, firing away just as the Scion ducked behind a hardy antique armoire. Cover quickly destroyed under a hail of hot lead, Yu quickly rolled unscathed towards a sofa, popping up to fire his revolver before ducking behind the upholstery. The .44 Magnum round flew straight into where one of the mercs wasn’t armored, causing him to swear in pain. Sasaki Ami, fearing Yu’s been outnumbered and out-armed, dashed as fast as she can while brandishing two katanas. In a blink of an eye, her two blades criss-crossed through one of the mercenary’s neck, swiftly decapitating him. Upon hearing his partner’s death rattle, the mercenary with the .44 lodged well within his femur turned and let loose another round of bullets. By some measure of divine intervention or what have you, nearly every shot missed save for one, which grazed Ami’s side. Yu quickly reacted, drawing a bead on the remaining guard’s head and fired, blowing his brains across a nearby wall. And, as fate would have it, the blood splattered in a pattern resembling several Chinese characters that, when translated into English, roughly meant “utterly and righteously destroyed.”

The Scions are back guarding the Wynn after their last adventure. It was still early morning. Hakon mentions that he is bored. It was after this that the gods exited the conference room. The party was split up for the time being as each divine parent wanted to speak with their child alone. Hakon learned that Loki wanted him to acquire a briefcase after the last one sent to get it, hadn’t returned yet. Athena wanted Alexander to go to some warehouse owned by some cosmetics company which was a front for a couple of gorgons.

Sasaki has to acquire a couple of objects that had been turned into some living beings. Guan Yu gave the task of guarding a box of his to Guo Yu. The box was not to be opened. It was with this that the gods departed for their separate hotels and the group of scions (aka the lapdogs of the gods) met together. Each one of them related their quest to the others. They used only a few words to describe what they had to do and related their quests to each other. Hakon though pointed out that he didn’t want any of Guo’s detectives to be with them when they helped him with his quest.

He makes a point of it that Guo could be in front of him. Alexander throws a four-sided die on the ground and it comes up being that it would be Alexander’s quest first. Alexander and co. went on their way to the warehouse. Hakon didn’t want to get in the SUV with everyone else, he mentions that he likes to feel the wind blowing against him as he rides, and so he choose to ride on his motorcycle. They make their way to the warehouse to find that there’s a wall around it with some sort of metal stuff up top. Hakon sees the cameras and notices that there wasn’t too much of a blind spot to use. There were two guards at the front of the warehouse. He comes up with an idea about someone distracting them. Everyone else but Sasaki turn their heads systematically to Ami. Guo was told to go as well. Meanwhile, Alexander and Hakon would be doing what they can to get over the fence without being seen. Alexander messes up on trying to cause the footage of the security camera to loop and Hakon spots something from the corner of his eye as he attempts to climb over. He hears a gunshot. Something was happening at the front.

He turns his attention to the matter at hand. There were four heavily armed guys on the other side. Two climbed over the wall and were heading in Alexander’s direction. He sends a text message to Alexander before clearing the wall quietly. Hakon lands by the wall and hides. Alexander moves to clear the wall. He sees Alexander jumping over the wall. He sees two heavily-armed men rushing past his position. He alerts Alexander to his position after that and then sends a text message to Yu about the guys coming towards them. After a short discussion, Alexander and Hakon decided that they would head into the warehouse while leaving the other two to deal with the guys outside. Hakon would be covering Alexander’s back.

Meanwhile, Sasaki and Guo were doing their job of distracting the guards. Sasaki tells the guards that Guo was loitering there. One of them heads off to Yu. The guard tells Yu to move off of the property. Yu, in turn, intimidated the guard with threats. The guy fires off a few rounds into Guo’s bulletproof vest. Yu punches the guy into a car. The other guard was rushing out to help his partner. The lady of the party faints but not really. She does do an excellent job of it though. The “fake-fainting” of the lady distracts the guard. It was after a couple more actions that the “elites” had arrived. Before this, Yu was intimidating enough to cause one of the guards to run away like a pansy. A gun was dropped on Ami. Yu runs into a warehouse.

The mercenaries ask Ami what exactly happened here and she tells them while pointing in one direction where the perpetrator went. They rush off and Ami after a bit of time follows suit. Yu, with only a few seconds to spare, hides behind cover as the mercenaries open fire upon his position with automatic bursts from their weapons. The cover was shot up but he wasn’t hurt. Ami attacks one of the guards. One of the guards attacks her. Yu does a stunt of some sort (will fill this in later). Yu acts on the same turn and fires upon the merc. Ami in return kills one of them. It was after one or two more actions that the mercs were dealt with. It was after the action that they hear a scream of some sort coming from the warehouse.

What happened to the duo of Alexander and Hakon the Assassin while Yu and Ami had their fun share of the action? Did both get knocked out? Or was it the scream of their foe being knocked out? Find out next time on Alexander’s Quest! Part Two: Whose in Trouble?

The scions left Gene’s Luxor Suite to head to the Wynn to resume their normal duties. It was when they were nearing their place, that they met Baron Samedi, a Loa god. The god was busy with attending the meeting and asked the Scions if they could help him with his problem. The Scions, one by one, said that they would help. Hakon did so with indifference in mind. He was only doing this to at least not be bored for the time being. The Baron, after he hears that they would help, gives them to Guo two minor birthright items. His trouble was that there were three dead bodies out and about somewhere. One of them is a pack of unfiltered cigarettes and the other is a flask of peppered rum. These two temporary birthright items would never run out until the quest was completed. They would be used to detect the dead.

If a Scion were to smoke one of the cigarettes within a hundred feet or so of one of the walking dead, then a dense cloud of smoke would form above the dead individual’s head. If the rum was poured on the ground, within a hundred feet or so of the dead, then it would eventually pool at that dead’s feet. He gives them to the Scions to help them along in their effort to find the dead. It was when he was asked about where the dead could be found, he told the Scions that they were out dancing somewhere in Vegas. He also told them that they were dancing with reckless abandon, never stopping. One Scion asked to get clarification where in Vegas where they could find these dancers, and he answered that they could be found at places where music was present like casinos or night clubs.

Everyone set off after this to search for the dancers. Guo Yu set his detectives out and across Vegas to search out the dead after giving them what to look out for. It was with this that the Scions found the first dancer, a smelly gambler by the name of Gary Vinson. He hadn’t left the roulette tables and would dance with any lady. Guo lit one of the special unfiltered cigarettes and smoked it, the smoke from the cigarette formed above the corpse in question. The Scions decided quickly on the action of what they were to do. Hakon points out that this guy would have to be taken care of where others wouldn’t being able to see the deed being done. Sasaki Ami used her charm and certain promises to entice him and lead him away. Hakon quickly followed behind while convincing any followers to stop following them.

It was when Sasaki led the unsuspecting corpse to the service stairwell that Alex and Yu (both of whom were lying in wait there to pounce on the fellow) shoved the guy over the rail. The corpse fell twenty-five feet and survived the impact. Guo tried to finish him off with a drop kick but that ultimately failed because the guy is a zombie. He did manage to crush the head in with his attack. The zombie survived the arrow shot into him by Alex, and Hakon shot the guy. His bullet went through the zombie and shattered when hitting the cement floor. It was after one more blow that the undead was laid to rest finally. Alex retrieved his arrow. Guo put a ward over the door after everyone had left as to give them enough time to be out of there before anyone would find the body that day and them with it.

The Scions leave to search for the rest of the corpses. They are once again bested by the sort-of-lazy detectives that follow Yu. They found something fishy going on at another nightclub The second target was a lady dancing on the floor with a wide empty radius around her. The Scions, or at least most of them, saw that she had been a car crash, and was rather stiff in her movements. Two of the Scions tried dancing but either one was trying too hard or one was trying to be too casual with dancing. The remaining non-dancing Scions gave each other looks and shrugs of the shoulder. Yu, with all the suave nature of a detective, asked loudly enough (to be overheard by only her) to take her back to his place. He got the lady to follow him and back into the alley. There was no car back there and so he put her into a choke-hold. The Scions quickly finished off this lady. Luckily, the lady was one of the undead dancers that they were looking for. They didn’t kill some living person as they remembered that the women was acting rather strange.

Hakon helped with disposing of the body since he was pretty much the only one with gloves on at the moment. Hakon heads over to his motorcycle while the other Scions head to the SUV. They head off once again to find the third and final zombie. For the third time, the cops that follow Yu around, beat the bunch of Scions to finding the target. The Scions were real novices when it comes to searching quickly and efficiently except for one. The Scions allowed the detectives to search out the night clubs and casinos while Hakon and the rest went out and searched the house parties. Hakon got into a [goth] house party while the other two were accepted into some the other ones. The Scions were called up and told about the third one.

The Scions arrived at the casino when they hear a snap of electricity go off in the air. There was another Scion in here. They spotted a black-clothed girl in the casino. The main party of Scions decide to do absolutely nothing about the girl and move on to their target. Hakon and the other Scions are invited to play Blackjack. Yu, to detect if this guy was a zombie, pours some of the rum on the carpet. This guy was definitely a zombie. They played a few hands. Hakon won some and lost some but Alexander counted cards and won a few hands that way. They kept on playing while Alex dropped out and until one or two were still playing. This guy worked the graveyard shift apparently and wouldn’t get off until 7 AM. The dealer told the Scions this. The dealer was eventually done with his shift.

No one noticed that the girl dressed in black clothes was gone or maybe they did. Yu offered to treat him to breakfast and the guy accepted. The Scions had decided before this that Hakon would go and rent a motel room for the Scions to kill the already dead guy in. The others treat him to breakfast and then headed over to the motel. Hakon registered the motel room under one of the other Scion’s names (he didn’t want to put it under his name). It was after a failed attempt of getting him in there that Alex and Yu shoved him in there forcefully. Guo muffled him with a pillow and shot him with a gun. Any sound from the gun was muffled and the guy’s screams were muffled. Hakon skillfully threw his Stiletto at the ceiling where it bounced off and eventually ended up in the guy’s eye. Yu finishes the guy off but wasn’t careful enough to put the gun against the pillow. The sound of the gun was heard outside.

The Scions stuff the body under the bed and then run outside. Yu jumped over the rail, onto his SUV, and got quickly into the driver’s seat. Hakon followed suit but jumped directly onto his motorcycle and drove off leaving the rest of the Scions hanging. The other Scions plus Tucker got into the SUV via their own way. They drive off. All the Scions eventually met back up at the Wynn. They tell the Baron that they completed the task for him. Baron Samedi was pleased by this and so allows the Scions to keep the temporary birthright items. Unfortunately, they weren’t unlimited anymore. There was only a dozen cigarettes and 10 shots of peppered rum to use to detect the undead. Hakon decided to go outside and converse with his raven for the time being after the events that had transpired.

Today, our heroes left the br.ief sanctuary that was Guo Yu’s expensive Luxor suite, and traveled through the Vegas streets towards the Wynn, another glitzy Vegas establishment. There, they met one of the Loa gods, Baron Samedi. He was, of course, with problems: several cats gone and died, then un-died, so to speak. Therefore, the Baron la Croix needed some assistance in putting down the walking dead once and for all. Again, the Scions felt they had to accept this quest, and so they did. For the task Guo Yu, the heaviest smoker and drinker of the band, was given a pack of unfiltered cigarettes that never seemed to run out, as there was always a cigarette to be shaken out, and a flask of Samedi’s very own peppered rum, which was equally bottomless. Aside from being potentially dangerous after prolonged ingestion, these items also had magical properties: when either the cigarette was smoked or the rum poured to the floor, an undead would be revealed, should they be within range. The party was also given several hints, one of which was to search where music was abundant. And so, armed with newfound knowledge, our heroes set off.

By command of their boss-man, the Shanghai detectives conducted a dragnet of sorts all across Vegas, hitting all of the prominent Vegas casinos and nightclubs. While they were doing their job, the Scions managed to find the first person-of-interest, a gambler that smelled not unlike old meat left out in the sun, and clearly moved as if rigor mortis was starting to take. Guo Yu scanned the casino floor for no-smoking signs, and then lit a stick when he was satisfied. The smoke poured from the front end of the cigarette, snaking through the air before settling on the head of their suspected walking corpse. Zombie identified, Sasaki Ami stepped forward to work her charm, successfully enticing him with promises of things best left un-aired. Hakon followed not too close behind, successfully talking away would be pursuers. Soon, the pair of the living and undead found their way to the service stairwell, where Alex and Yu were ready to pounce. Without a single word, the two shoved the zombie over the railing, who fell a total of roughly 25 feet. Unfortunately, the impact of the fall didn’t kill him, so Guo Yu followed up by leaping over the railing to crush the corpse’s further-mangled body. Yet again, the zombie survived the assault, which led to Alex delivering a well placed arrow through the poor guy’s kneecap. Several beatings later, the body was finally laid to rest. Before leaving, Guo Yu placed a ward on the door so that in the event somebody came searching, they’d be delayed for some time, allowing some evidence to degrade in quality through the Vegas heat.

Tucker, half-clubbing and half doing his goddamned job, gave Yu a ring on the cell phone to tell him that he has, indeed, found someone that was acting sort of fishy. When the heroes arrived at the nightclub, they found who Tucker was referring to: a woman dancing on the floor with a noticeable empty perimeter around her, presumably resultant of her stench. She had clearly been in a car crash and was dancing rather stiffly. Yu, having steeled himself for a brief bout of dancing, tossed his coat to his companions and overtly Charleston’d towards the woman, earning himself a couple raised eyebrows. Guo Yu asked to take her back to his place, half shouting so he could be heard over the music and half muting himself so that his request wasn’t overheard by the other nightclub patrons. Awkwardly, he persuaded the woman to exit into the alley with him, where he immediately brought her into a brutal choke-hold. Seeing an opportunity, Alex, who had been following the couple into the alley, strode on over and stabbed the woman with his spear, trying not to inadvertently skewer his comrade - this only served to irritate a “what the fuck” from the stabbed. Luckily, before the woman could have a chance to break free from Guo Yu’s grip, Ami stepped in to deliver a one-two stab to the stomach and slash through the neck, cleanly decapitating and putting to rest the body. Quickly, they tossed the corpse into a dumpster, covering it with bags of garbage. As the Scions made their way to Yu’s parked SUV, they realized they forgot to use the provided relics to confirm their woman was in fact, a zombie. Their fears were calmed, however, when they remembered that the woman wasn’t reacting particularly human-like to the stabbing by various blades.

The final job was to lay to rest a blackjack dealer Tucker had found when he was gambling as opposed to being fully invested in his task. When our heroes entered the casino floor, they noticed a crackling of air and the smell of electricity burning - in their field of vision was a darkly dressed girl, who was undoubtedly a Scion. The party decided to ignore her and instead, made their way to the blackjack table. While our heroes sat down to play, Guo Yu poured some rum onto the carpeted floor, making sure not to draw any attention to his blatant mess-making. The rum, as expected, pooled around the blackjack dealer’s feet. It turned out, after some questioning, that the blackjack dealer operated until 7 AM in the morning. Hoping to get away with their deed cleanly, the band decided that they’d play until then. When the time finally came around, Guo Yu offered the dealer breakfast. The dealer, accepting the offer, followed the band to Yu’s car, and they went off to order some takeout before driving back to a motel room that Hakon rented while they were gone to purchase breakfast. When they came back, the dealer noticed that something was up when Yu managed to open the door for him without using a key. Thinking fast, Yu and Alex shoved the fellow onto the bed, prone, at which point Yu proceeded to smother the zombie with a pillow and fired his gun through it. Fortunately, the sound was muffled, though the shot did not kill him. However, before the dealer could react, Hakon bounced a knife off the ceiling to strike the zombie in the face, deterring it long enough so Yu could fire off another clean shot. Lo and behold, a re-deaded undead. Then the situation became tense again: that last shot wasn’t so quiet. Yu and Alex quickly shoved the body under the bed, and leaped one after another into the SUV’s open sunroof. Hakon ran to his bike and rode away. While Yu shifted into the driver’s seat, Alex held his arms out to catch Ami, taking care not to look up her skirt. Lady successfully caught, the SUV made a doughnut - hitting a few cars - and peeled off, but not before Tucker leaped into the passenger’s seat at the last second.

Finally, our heroes were able to return to Baron Samedi with some good news: the walking dead were no longer walking. In his gratitude, the Baron allowed Guo Yu to keep the flask and carton of cigarettes, though they were no longer bottomless. Yu stepped off to rid his mind of today’s messy events through liberal application of booze.

Today, our heroes made their way back to Vegas with the Black Feather Shroud in possession and a desire to get the fuck out of the Mojave heat. Of course, prior to driving back to civilization, one of the Scions, Guo Yu, decided to don the cloak with complete disregard for his well-being. Needless to say, nothing happened. So, the party decided to investigate the properties of the Black Feather Shroud, making their way to the seedy diner where their adventure first began. Of course, after congregating in an extremely filthy single-toilet bathroom(which attracted some unwanted attention from the staff), our heroes decided to opt for a more appropriate headquarters: Guo Yu’s Luxor suite, sans Hakon however. With Yu’s detectives either downstairs gambling or recovering from hangovers, the Scions were finally afforded some semblance of relative safety.

While Hakon researched any mythos possibly related to the Shroud at the library, the rest of the team followed suit by utilizing the power of the world wide web. Eventually, they find out all they could about the shroud, yet faintly aware that the relic hid a few more secrets in its feathers. However, there was a slight hiccup when Hakon decided to withhold some information which, after a brief mental struggle with Yu, turned out to be comparatively unimportant.

Curiosity sated, our heroes then attempted to determine who gets to have the loot. After taking a bit more time than necessary, the group decided they’d keep the Black Feather Shroud in the suite’s safe for now. Ami plucked a feather to make sure if anyone, however unlikely it was, stole the shroud and raised the dead, she would have control of the corpse instead. However, Hakon got the idea that he instead should have control, and though his attempt to steal a feather was partly noticed by Guo Yu, he managed to finally pluck the feather without being seen. However, due to recent events, Yu has decided that Loki’s Scion was too untrustworthy to be comfortable around, and made a note to himself: “Any overtly funny business, and he’s getting a .45 in the back of the head.”

The Scions are in the hands of the Black Feather Shroud after defeating Tecuhtli, a titanspawn. They don’t know what it does. Guo Yu decides to wears it and nothing special happens. The team eventually agrees to return to Vegas and do some research on the shroud. Everyone heads out of the cave. Hakon rides on his motorcycle driving rather plainly like the guy driving the vehicle ahead of him. His raven perched on the back-end of the motorcycle glaring at the back of Hakon’s head.

All Scions first meet at inside a one-stall bathroom at the seedy diner where the whole adventure began for the group. Hakon and probably another scion were really uncomfortable being this close to everyone else. They eventually reconvene to Yu’s Luxor suite with the BFS being carried in Alexander’s bag. They start to do research the Shroud by searching on google while Hakon goes to the library to find any myths that have some information on the cloak’s abilities.

He is called after an hour of searching by Alexander (who set it to speaker-phone so that everyone could hear Hakon). Hakon relates a very tiny piece of information and is called on it when at least one of the Scions back at the suite realizes that he’s not telling everything about what he found. He catches himself and reveals only a little bit more but then adds that he is going to tell them everything when he gets back to the suite. He’s being careful about not revealing information to any possible listeners in the library. He does not reveal that he is trying to stay as quiet as possible since he’s in a library.

Hakon, eventually returning to the suite, tells them about what he found during his search. The heroes (Scions) then start the long arduous procedure of deciding who would keep the cloak for the time being after they decide to not give it to the gods. Hakon declined to keep a hold on it since his raven wasn’t entirely loyal to him. He quickly sees that having Ami holding on to it being a bad idea. He sort of differs the offer to either Alex or the other Scion (Guo). It was eventually decided that it would be kept at the suite that they were currently in. Ami plucks a feather in front of everyone. He doesn’t trust Ami or the others enough to let this pass as the cloak’s powers could be used against him if the others decided to betray him. He decides to take a pass at trying to take a feather from the shroud discreetly. Hakon tries to do so and Guo thinks he sees something happening there but the former is petting the shroud gently. He succeeds in plucking feather and without showing it, he slides it up between his arm and the bottom potion of his sleeve discreetly while the latter (who doesn’t see him plucking the feather). Everyone breaks to do whatever the heck that they’re doing. Hakon, while on his own, quietly decides to kill anyone who shows any signs of betraying him or the group in general. He was especially keeping note of one of the Scions for he doesn’t quite trust to be around that Scion at all times.

Today, our heroes attended Panegyris, a colorful Cirque de Soleil-esque Vegas show, and then left promptly after, but not before taking notice of a recurring theme of the performance: a man descending into what seemed to be an opening of a cave. This sign would soon show up elsewhere, after our adventurous party split up to go their separate ways. Hakon spied a rocky formation reminiscent of the ominous image while riding his motorbike through the desert, while both Ami and Yu spy it from the corner of their eyes during dinner within the screen of a large plasma TV. This time, however, the symbol seemed to be reversed, instead depicting a man ascending from a cave entrance.

The next morning, our protagonists awoke with a divine sense of, for lack of a better word, duty. Guo Yu, with the power of the internet, browsed Google Maps’ “street view” of the desert highways until he came across what he believed to be the ever-recurring cave. Quickly, he called up his allies. Hakon, however, decided to seek the cave by riding the highways, with his raven performing aerial reconnaissance - Yu’s phone call went unanswered. As the Shang Hai detective picked up his Scion cohorts in his rental Hummer, Loki’s child finally checked his voicemail, which conveniently told him the location of their desired destination and saved the assassin from searching any longer under the blazing Mojave sun.

Guo Yu parked the vehicle at the cave’s entrance, and spooled out a cable they would use to traverse the caverns. The spelunking went forward without many complications, outside of Sasaki Ami nearly slipping to what may or may not have been an abyss - fortunately, Yu climbed on over and instead carried her over. Eventually, our heroes reached an inner chamber, inundated with foul, humid exhalations. There it was, the foul frog titan-spawn, Techutli with its many ghastly maws. Quickly, the Scions sprang into action, and not before long, the beast was slain with nary an injury suffered. The party, perceptive as ever, noticed numerous eggs(which is never a good thing), beds of feathers, and a curious boulder. Of course the detective, being the first guy you’d expect to perform miraculous feats of strength, channeled the divine power of his patron god, pushed the boulder aside and retrieved the Black Feather Shroud, an obviously mystical relic.